Spring Lake school district shows off new alternative ed facility

Thu, Sep 10, 2009    to del.icio.us

SPRING LAKE — About 30 residents attended an open house Wednesday night for the Spring Lake school district's new alternative education building.

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"My first reaction is 'wow,'" said Spring Lake Public Schools Superintendent Dennis Furton. "This is completely in line with the rest of our district goals. It will give these kids the same opportunities as the rest of our kids have."

The $500,000 building, located on the north side of Leonard Road just south of the high school, includes four new classrooms and a meeting room/teacher's lounge.

The district is currently leasing two of the classrooms to the Ottawa County community-based instruction program.

Spring Lake's alternative ed students formerly were housed in portable classrooms at the middle school.

"They have a place to put their stuff now, with their own lockers," said teacher Michele Stetts. "Before, they had to keep their stuff with them all the time."

Fellow teacher Mitzi Milanowski said the transition from the portable classrooms "is like coming from a shack to a castle."

Milanowski said after only two days of classes, she's noticed a difference in student attitudes.

"The new building has already affected their behavior — and in a very positive way," she said. "They're really taking pride in it."

Furton said because of the building's proximity to the high school, alternative education students will be able to dine in the high school cafeteria, and participate in various fitness and aquatic center programs.

"We couldn't be more pleased with the results," Furton said. "The facility more than meets our needs for our alternative education students. It's clean and new and bigger than what we had before."